By By Arthur McLean
Atmore Community Hospital could be considered among the best after a recent accreditation survey.
ACH recently underwent its three-year accreditation survey by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Operations and passed with flying colors.
The independent body that reviews 17,000 hospitals and healthcare providers nationwide gave the hospital a perfect review, noting nothing that needed to be changed or improved, said Bob Gowing, hospital administrator.
"This is a hospital staff that the people of Atmore can be proud of," Gowing said. The reviewers said only one other hospital reviewed this year received a similar review, Gowing said.
The JCAHO develops standards from a patient safety standpoint, and performs a top-down review of hospital operations from patient care to fire safety. "They look at everything down to how you clean the floors in the kitchen," said Cyd Cadena, director of nursing.
"We had an incredible result. I'm extremely proud of our staff and administrators for getting us ready for this review," Gowing said. "We're now working to make sure we're maintaining those high levels every day."
The review process in the future will be a random, unannounced visit, Gowing said.
Atmore Community Hospital is a 51-bed facility seeing 1,600 admissions, 3,500 outpatient visits, 10,000 emergency room visits and 6,200 home health visits each year.
In addition to the good news from the review, ACH also ranks in the top one percent of hospitals nationwide in patient satisfaction, based on a standardized survey.
Gowing also pointed out the hospital's affiliation with the Baptist Healthcare network. "Our nine-year affiliation with Baptist has been a big factor in improving patient care, staff moral, staff development and growing our services here," Gowing said. "As a small-town hospital alone, we wouldn't be able to do some of the things we can do without that support."
According to the JCAHO, the organization measures performance in areas of patient treatment, patient rights, infection control, and many other areas.
The JCAHO accreditation review fulfills the state's review requirements for accreditation in the state of Alabama.